Anoop, Kerala’s Biggest Lottery Winner, is in the Business Now

The smiling face of former autorickshaw driver and chef Anoop from Sreevaraham in Thiruvananthapuram was all over the news across India after he scored the largest prize in the history of the Kerala lottery of ₹25 crore on September 19, 2022.

Anoop has now made lottery his business and is planning to expand from ticket retail to a wholesale dealership as a lottery agent. In the meantime, however, his case made the state government change the privacy rules for big prize winners and start sending them to a special financial management education program.

Onam Bumper Winner Chose to Stay Where Luck Found Him

On the opening day of his new lottery ticket shop at Manakkad junction in Thodupuzha, customers flocked in to buy tickets from the hands of the winner himself, showing that Anoop might have made the right choice to stay where luck found him and turn lottery into his new business.

Anoop named his shop MA Lucky Centre – placing his wife Maya’s and his own initials in front and celebrating the very luck that brought the Onam bumper fortune to him and his family.

He is now buying tickets from local agents and selling them to individual customers, but Anoop plans big and wants to establish a lottery agency earning commissions from future winners like himself in addition to regular trade margins.

Moving into lottery sales hasn’t made Anoop change his attitude towards the game – he keeps buying tickets for himself and has even scored several small prizes under ₹5,000 after his big win.

He has also made some investments in real estate and keeps the rest of the money in fixed deposits.

State Lottery Dept Had to Rethink Rules

The fairytale story of 30-year-old Anoop is quite inspiring, but some parts of it made the State Lottery Department quickly change the rules and give future big prize winners the option to remain anonymous. And the very next guy who won ₹16 crore on Kerala’s Christmass and New Year bumper chose to exercise this new right, and we remain unaware of their identity.

“Though I resumed my earlier profession as an autorickshaw driver, many people were not paying the fares, saying I did not need the money. Hence my brother is now running the autorickshaw, and I decided to start a lottery shop,” Anoop wraps it up on his recent career shift.

That’s not the only change in his life, as he had to relocate with his family a couple of times after his residence was surrounded by eager help-seekers, including not only friends and distant acquaintances, but complete strangers as well.

Financial Management Class Introduced after February

Anoop and the anonymous Christmass bumper winner are the last Kerala lottery big prize winners who won’t get the state’s new one-day financial management class, announced by Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal in March 2022 together with the new budget but will start functioning in February this year.

The money management training content will be based on recent recommendations from a team led by Dr. N Ramalingam. He is an Associate Professor at the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation in Thiruvananthapuram (GIFT).

The training is being introduced due to past reports about big prize winners struggling with their newfound wealth. Therefore, the new classes will cover investments and all other aspects of financial management. Qualified experts will conduct these classes.

Awareness about Tax Deductions from Winnings is also Important

Winners should understand the tax implications and other deductions from their prize money to avoid issues with authorities.

In Anoop’s case, ₹15.75 crore reached his account from a total prize of ₹25 crore. This amount was after the agent took a 10% cut of ₹2.5 crore. The state government deducted 30% income tax from the remaining ₹6.75 crore.

Anoop also had to pay a 37% surcharge on the income tax, which amounted to ₹2.49 crore. Additionally, he paid a 4% health and education cess on the income tax plus surcharge, totaling ₹36.99 lakh. Ultimately, Anoop had a net earning of ₹12.88 lakh (roughly $1.55 million).